According to Funkatopia, the NPG Music Club is coming back in 2026.

rap said:

That name is lame and old, and doesn't sound attractive at all!

(It never did for me.)

-

But if true, let's give it a go.

Vannormal said:

That name is lame and old, and doesn't sound attractive at all!

(It never did for me.)

-

But if true, let's give it a go.

Come on!

.

If this actually happening, is the best we're getting from the current Estate so far. And you complain about the name! If they are going to stream anything previously unreleased they can call whatever they want for what I care, just take my money

Expect more NPGMC logo T-shirts and coffee mugs than actual music. Oh and $1500 presale tickets to PP events, exclusive to members.

Kares said:

Please let it be good.

At this point, the most likely is that we get no NPGMC at all.

IF they will be able to open a new NPGMC, I'll be happy IF:

1- no streaming-only music, but flac download (like Peter Gabriel in Bandcamp)

2- solid releases with good mastering

3- a rich offering of unreleased material

4- a reasonable price

.

I don't know why, but I fear it will be very difficult for even just two of these options to come true

If executed well and focused on music only (no more mugs or bedsheets) this could be interesting. Would be a good way to monetize the material in the vault in a faster and more digestible way for us.

Let's see what happens, 2026, another big year

oh good, we'll have londell answering the " ? of the week " and we might get
some of sharon's songs in the reflection room

perhaps they'll post a few essays about how WE are the thieves in the temple.

looking forward to it

happyshopper said:

My prediction is high cost, low quality, badly mixed mp3s, no quality control. Merch. Everyone complains they didn’t get what they paid for (or hoped for).

Just like if Prince were running it himself?

iveivan said:

happyshopper said:

My prediction is high cost, low quality, badly mixed mp3s, no quality control. Merch. Everyone complains they didn’t get what they paid for (or hoped for).

Just like if Prince were running it himself?

only if the sign up gift gets lost in the mail

Hey I got NYC ONA 2002 NPG Music Club and that situation would take an at least 10 page short story between the the soundcheck, the show, the aftershow, and all the NYC moments happening all in the same night. As a New Yorker, and moreso as a Prince fan, it might have been the best day and night (and next day) of my life. If only that shit was re-producable. I'll write it all down if you need me to, but I will just say, but just imagine Prince sitting right behind me in a velour or cashmir (pink... magenta) listening to his band during sound check, making joks t the expense of everyone, being in front at the ONA show, and then skipping the line and paying no cover the be 5 feet from prince until 3 or 4 in the morning, and so much that went on in between....

NPG Music Club like Paisley Park (go visit), will always be in my heart for that experience. If they want to revive that? Money grab, bad idea.

[Edited 11/12/25 22:05pm]

themanfromneptune said:

IF they will be able to open a new NPGMC, I'll be happy IF:

1- no streaming-only music, but flac download (like Peter Gabriel in Bandcamp)

2- solid releases with good mastering

3- a rich offering of unreleased material

4- a reasonable price

.

I don't know why, but I fear it will be very difficult for even just two of these options to come true

5- No disadvantages for people not in the USA

themanfromneptune said:

IF they will be able to open a new NPGMC, I'll be happy IF:

1- no streaming-only music, but flac download (like Peter Gabriel in Bandcamp)

2- solid releases with good mastering

3- a rich offering of unreleased material

4- a reasonable price

.

I don't know why, but I fear it will be very difficult for even just two of these options to come true

Call me a cynic but IMO...

1) Seems unlikely

2) Sure, but...

3) Only streaming previously released albums

4) $15-$20 for previously released Prince albums + 1 or 2 live tracks per month. With an occasional unreleased studio track and option for paid subscribers to buy live albums on CD.

Less of a streaming service more like a paid fanclub.

themanfromneptune said:

databank said:

Bandcamp is a proven system that does work. But I suspect the Estate think they're too good for it and if they ever do this, they'll want to come up with their own platform, which is totally unnecessary and will probably bring lots of unnecessary technical issues...

.

Bandcamp works, but for a niche. I bought Peter Gabriel's i/o and I see it is in 6560 collections... the numbers are very low.

themanfromneptune said:

databank said:

Bandcamp is a proven system that does work. But I suspect the Estate think they're too good for it and if they ever do this, they'll want to come up with their own platform, which is totally unnecessary and will probably bring lots of unnecessary technical issues...

.

Bandcamp works, but for a niche. I bought Peter Gabriel's i/o and I see it is in 6560 collections... the numbers are very low.

Is it really "very low" for 2025?

IanRG said:

themanfromneptune said:

IF they will be able to open a new NPGMC, I'll be happy IF:

1- no streaming-only music, but flac download (like Peter Gabriel in Bandcamp)

2- solid releases with good mastering

3- a rich offering of unreleased material

4- a reasonable price

.

I don't know why, but I fear it will be very difficult for even just two of these options to come true

5- No disadvantages for people not in the USA

themanfromneptune said:

databank said:

Bandcamp is a proven system that does work. But I suspect the Estate think they're too good for it and if they ever do this, they'll want to come up with their own platform, which is totally unnecessary and will probably bring lots of unnecessary technical issues...

.

Bandcamp works, but for a niche. I bought Peter Gabriel's i/o and I see it is in 6560 collections... the numbers are very low.

Yes. The whole concept of selling music downloads is very niche and dead for ca. 10 years... and don't forget every download you sell will be bootlegged and downloadable in every corner of the internet when you are talking about an artist like Prince. So I really doubt this is a concept that would work. My prediction: this will be a streaming only service. I can't understand what would be good about that and I have no idea how this would be profitable. The costs for mixing, mastering etc. are THE SAME as for a physical product.

There is a huge still incredibly growing market for physical catalogue products, special editions and so on. Look at Bob Dylan, Neil Young, David Bowie etc. pp. ... they are all still releasing at least one huge Deluxe Edition of unreleased material. I bought a 26 CD box set of all recorded Bob Dylan shows of 1974 for around 100€!!! Of course it's possible to sell this to the fans. You have to do it right, though

Rough said:

themanfromneptune said:

.

Bandcamp works, but for a niche. I bought Peter Gabriel's i/o and I see it is in 6560 collections... the numbers are very low.

Yes. The whole concept of selling music downloads is very niche and dead for ca. 10 years... and don't forget every download you sell will be bootlegged and downloadable in every corner of the internet when you are talking about an artist like Prince. So I really doubt this is a concept that would work. My prediction: this will be a streaming only service. I can't understand what would be good about that and I have no idea how this would be profitable. The costs for mixing, mastering etc. are THE SAME as for a physical product.

There is a huge still incredibly growing market for physical catalogue products, special editions and so on. Look at Bob Dylan, Neil Young, David Bowie etc. pp. ... they are all still releasing at least one huge Deluxe Edition of unreleased material. I bought a 26 CD box set of all recorded Bob Dylan shows of 1974 for around 100€!!! Of course it's possible to sell this to the fans. You have to do it right, though

The only way I could see downloads working is if a title got released only when a certain number of pre-orders was attained. Then the money could be spent preparing it for release. It could also give an opportunity for the fans to choose what gets released.

it's almost certainly lost data, but I would personally love if there was a museum of all his sites. NPGOnlineLTD, L4OA, erm, let's see, the club obv, The Dawn, ... someone get Samnation on the phone

themanfromneptune said:

databank said:

Bandcamp is a proven system that does work. But I suspect the Estate think they're too good for it and if they ever do this, they'll want to come up with their own platform, which is totally unnecessary and will probably bring lots of unnecessary technical issues...

.

Bandcamp works, but for a niche. I bought Peter Gabriel's i/o and I see it is in 6560 collections... the numbers are very low.

It's remarkable how everytime someone suggests something, someone else says "not profitable", "not enough market", "too niche", "not visible enough", "too expensiive to produce", etc.

Why do we complain about the Estate? If we were in charge, we would clearly choose to release nothing...

.

(Not snapping at you Man from Neptune, it's more of a general observation.)

.

How could Bandcamp be more niche than an Estate-ran website? And even so, why does it matter? If anyone here imagines a NPGMC formula would attrack hundreds of thousands of subscribers, they live on another planet. The whole point of a NPGMC is precisely to be able to release material for the hardcore fans that wouldn't be interesting to casual listeners. It has to be niche.

.

That said, someone else said the material would be too expensive to mix and master, so let's forget about it (funnily enough, it's not too expensive for artists to record, mix and master new material and put it on Bandcamp, but mastering existing material apparently is).

.

Clearly, there is no realistic way for the Estate to release any more music. I think the best thing to do is to destroy the vault to cut costs on Iron Mountain as well...

databank said:

Clearly, there is no realistic way for the Estate to release any more music. I think the best thing to do is to destroy the vault to cut costs on Iron Mountain as well...

Oh no no, the Estate needs the Vault to dangle in front of core fans— also perfect bait for overpriced Cellies

peedub said:

bring it

excatly - it was awesome back in the day - and it could so easily be awesome again.